Khamzat Chimaev is set to defend his middleweight belt against Sean Strickland. To prepare for Strickland's effective striking technique, 'Borz' has enlisted the help of Khalil Rountree Jr.

in his training camp. As they near the end of their preparations, the former 205lbs title challenger believes Chimaev will successfully retain his belt.

Chimaev's striking has looked much sharper in the new training footage he and Bear Degidio have shared on their social media. 'Borz' even appeared to drop Rountree Jr. in one clip, which the American debunked recently. All in all, the middleweight champion's striking looks better than ever.

In light of these improvements, Khalil Rountree Jr. believes in Chimaev's ability to decimate anyone he faces. The LA native recently told Adam Zubayraev about how confident he was in his Chechen training partner's abilities in the octagon.

I feel very confident about Khamzat and what he is capable of against absolutely any opponent. It doesn't matter if it's Sean Strickland or someone else. Khamzat goes there to just eat them all. So I will be there to watch, to be a witness, to see how Khamzat swallows his opponents in a cage.

Whether he dropped him or not, Khalil Rountree Jr. did admit to Khamzat Chimaev landing a clean shot on him. Even Alex Pereira initially struggled with landing clean on Rountree during their fight at UFC 307. A version of Borz whose striking matches the level of his grappling may be truly unbeatable.

Even so, the few deficiencies in Chimaev's MMA game have always emerged in his striking. Only his performance at UFC 328 will tell if the holes have been plugged. But the wait may not actually be that long, as things may boil over before the event even arrives. This is especially after Sean Strickland's recent threat to Khamzat Chimaev.

The rivalry between Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev has been so vitriolic that Dana White has already arranged for extra security ahead of UFC 328. The former teammates have been spewing venom at each other for a couple of years at this point.

As the event draws closer, it seems the former middleweight champion is making no effort to do so with his shocking comments to The Mac Life's Oscar Willis. The comments in question came as a response to Willis informing Strickland about Borz's joke that Strickland has no one in his entourage to help him in a team fight.

If [Khamzat Chimaev] were to come up to me like a man and say, 'You know what, Sean? You said some things about my dad [Ramzan] Kadyrov.' And I'm like, well, you know what, dude? You [expletive] yourself out, not me. I wanna settle this. I would say, 'Let's settle this like men. But if you come up to me with three Chechens that don't speak English, I'm gonna pull my gun, and I'm gonna shoot each and every one of you.'

'Tarzan' has always been known for never having a filter for the thoughts he chooses to verbalize. The UFC even had to cut his mic after his fight with Anthony 'Fluff' Hernandez. But such a threat to Borz this close to their fight may instigate chaos when they come face-to-face.

While Jon Anik may relish such a scenario, it's safe to say the UFC and Dana White may just have a meltdown. The fighters will likely be placed in different hotels, and the UFC will probably limit potential interactions during the UFC 328 media week.

As UFC 328 draws nearer, the question of the company being able to contain these middleweights looms larger. However, with Sean Strickland doing everything from sending threats to sending his location to Chimaev looking for a fight, the UFC faces a tall task.

(34 Articles Published)